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Legal explainers
The law behind the news, explained in a few minutes by the experts who know it best.
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4:59POLICEQUALIFIEDIMMUNITY?
What is qualified immunity?
Prof. Fred Smith, Jr. · Stanford Law
Why suing a police officer for damages turns on "clearly established law," and the three ways to show it
8:221.3K viewsCOMMANDORREQUEST?
Police Command v. Police Request
Prof. Rachel Harmon · UVA Law
How to tell a police command from a request, why the line blurs, and what happens when you ask which it is.
7:373.8K viewsMUST YOUOBEYPOLICE?
Do you have to comply with police orders?
Prof. Rachel Harmon · UVA Law
Unlawful orders, the right to resist, and why 'comply now, complain later' often leaves no way to complain.
3:183.5K viewsSTANDYOURGROUND
What are stand your ground laws?
Prof. Kimberly Kessler Ferzan · Penn Carey Law
Stand-your-ground removes one narrow duty to retreat, but force must still be necessary and proportionate.
2:342.9K viewsTHE DUTYTORETREAT
What is the duty to retreat?
Prof. Kimberly Kessler Ferzan · Penn Carey Law
No retreat for non-deadly force or at home: when the law requires you to walk away before using deadly force.
5:00640 viewsLOSINGSELF-DEFENSERIGHTS
Forfeiting the Right to Self-Defense
Prof. Kimberly Kessler Ferzan · Penn Carey Law
Initial aggressors, provocateurs, and how you can lose, and sometimes regain, the right to defend yourself.
4:54POLICEBRAINSCANS?
Can the Police Require a Brain Scan?
Prof. Emily Murphy · UC Law San Francisco
Cognitive liberty, the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and why today's fMRI needs a cooperative subject.
6:504.2K viewsCAN YOURECORDPOLICE?
Can you record the police?
Prof. Rachel Harmon · UVA Law
The First Amendment right to film police, and when officers can limit it at crime scenes, stops, and arrests.
5:087.3K viewsPOLICEDEADLYFORCE
When can police use deadly force?
Prof. Rachel Harmon · UVA Law
The Fourth Amendment limits on police deadly force under Tennessee v. Garner, and why many states go further.
0:525.7K viewsARRESTEDFOR THEFINGER?
Can you be arrested for giving the finger to police?
Prof. Rachel Harmon · UVA Law
Why the First Amendment protects rude gestures and harsh words aimed at police officers
3:5414K viewsCAN THEPOLICELIE?
Can the Police Lie to You?
Alex Spiro · Quinn Emanuel
When police may lie in questioning, how courts judge voluntariness, and why false confessions happen.
4:0641K viewsSTOP ANDFRISK?
What is stop-and-frisk?
Prof. Daniel Capra · Fordham Law
How Terry v. Ohio's reasonable-suspicion rules permit stops and frisks, and why NYC's program was struck down.
2:351K viewsRACE &POLICESTOPS?
Can the police use race when deciding who to stop?
Prof. Daniel Capra · Fordham Law
Why a pretextual traffic stop is valid under the Fourth Amendment whenever the officer has probable cause.
2:39492K viewsMUST YOUANSWERPOLICE?
When must you answer a police officer's question?
Prof. Daniel Capra · Fordham Law
Consensual encounters, Terry stops, ID requests, and searches: what you must do and what you can refuse.
3:4915K viewsRIGHT TORECORDPOLICE?
Is There a Right to Record the Police?
Prof. Jocelyn Simonson · Brooklyn Law School
Most federal appeals courts now protect filming police in public, but buffer laws and immunity still matter.